-The Hindu Literacy has helped people in the State maximise the benefits of the rural employment guarantee scheme Kerala’s achievements have long been celebrated by development economists — high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While...

-IANS The newspaper advertisements of Madhur Bhandarkar's upcoming movie "Heroine", that features lead actress Kareena Kapoor with a cigarette on movie sets, have drawn flak for blatant violation of anti-tobacco laws. In a letter written to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, NGO Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth (HRIDAY) points out violation of law, regulating display of tobacco use in films. "Leading national dailies (on May 23) and online versions of several...

-The Hindu A farmhouse at Igatpuri, near Mumbai yielded six skeletons. Expensive flats in posh suburbs at Andheri and Oshiwara were scenes of gruesome murders. Mumbai no longer needs horror movies or comics. Open the newspapers every morning, the horror stories hit you. Not just murder, but decapitation and further mutilation. A disgruntled man thought nothing of bashing to death six members of his family and burying their bodies. The inside...

-The Guardian  Use of Sodium Pentothal to secure confessions – classified by some as torture – still common in certain regions of India It is the sort of scene that belongs in a film noir, not a 21st-century democracy: an uncooperative suspect being injected with a dose of "truth serum" in an attempt to elicit a confession. But some detectives in India still swear by so-called narcoanalysis despite India's highest court ruling...

-IANS Eating fruits and vegetables every day can reduce your risk of developing heart disease by 20 percent, a World Health Organization (WHO) study showed.  Death rates from heart disease are twice as high among people who eat diets high in saturated fat, trans fats and salt such as junk food, Xinhua quoted the study as saying. More people around the world die from cardiovascular diseases than any other causes.  These diseases were responsible...